


priority shipping

by justlikeswitchblades



Category: Stellar Firma (Podcast)
Genre: M/M, Pining, References to Canon-Typical Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:00:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23621209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justlikeswitchblades/pseuds/justlikeswitchblades
Summary: “I can’t believe it, Imogen!” David sighs, covering all of his eyes with his hands when he’s finished, feeling both thrilled at his discovery, and regret from watching the videos so quickly. “Instead of an audio blog, Bathin has a video blog! Bathin likes facts! He likes sharing them with others! I wonder if he’d like to listen to an episode of🎶Day-vid’s Fact Corner🎶..."***Bathin has a travel blog; David tries to figure out how to send him fan mail.
Relationships: David 7/Duke Bathin
Comments: 19
Kudos: 176
Collections: Stellar Fanma - Round 1





	priority shipping

**Author's Note:**

  * For [octopodian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/octopodian/gifts).



> happy stellar fanma to cas - and thank you for your patience with this gift! i hope you enjoy some david/bathin content, along with some cheeky references to your [david design](https://twitter.com/artopodians/status/1237595537341202432) c:
> 
> minor spoilers for episode 26 and onwards (and my apologies for trexel being here, but someone had to help the plot along)

“Imogen,” David sighs, two eyes winked closed, flopped on his back with his head at the opposite end of his bed. “Run a search for Bathin, Great Duke of Galactonium, please?”

 _[Search Number 20 for a particular topic logged. Congratulations!]_ A tiny horn trumpets from IMOGEN’s speakers; David pouts a little, wondering if it’s sarcastic, but decides to not voice his sass. He takes his portable IMOGEN in his hand and starts to scroll through the search results with his finger. It’s a little over an hour into what he’s learned is called the _weekend_ , the 48 Trexel-less hours he’s allotted after their performance reviews, and after a typically harrowing review with Hartro, he might as well wind down with one of his favorite topics. 

The screen is mostly light blue text on a black background, denoting links he’s already clicked on before - the official Galactonium government website, news articles about Bathin, websites with pictures of Bathin, but in varying degrees of quality--often poor and pixelated. After scrolling for a moment absently for a moment, he taps the arrow in the bottom right corner of the screen that takes him back up to the top of the page, and filters the results by Newest--one unblemished, unclicked, pristine white link pops up, foam atop a sea of blue text, promising to take him to “Bathin without Boundaries”. David taps the link and sits up, twisting to face the larger IMOGEN screen on the wall of his pod.

The screen lights up with a moving image, no, a video of Bathin, shaking slightly and pulling away to show him walking along a beach, his white shirt unbuttoned and rustling in the breeze, showing flashes of his abs, his hair pulled back, but some locks plastered to his cheek.

“Hello, and welcome back to _Bathin without Boundaries!_ ” Bathin grins, looking up, almost as if looking into David’s eyes--David figures he must be holding a portable IMOGEN-like device in his hand. “This week, we’re visiting Amaranth, better known to be the honeymoon planet in the Galactonium galaxy, where legend claims that lovers’ trysts have stained its hallmark sands pink. Now, as a bachelor, I haven’t had cause to visit this island before, but--”

From then, David spirals. He watches minute upon minute, hours of Bathin exploring the landmarks of tens of Galactonium planets, taking a tour of the capital city, talking about his daily routine--it only ends when he registers a faint warning of _[Clone sleep schedule derailing. Relaxation gases initiating.]_ from IMOGEN, his eyelids slowly falling and staying closed for multiple hours thereafter. He downs his cup of scalding clone slurry when he wakes up, and continues to binge the catalog of travel videos from where he last left off, with Bathin talking about a pattern of carvings on a rust-colored mountainside, and Galactonium’s relations with native species.

“I can’t believe it, Imogen!” David sighs, covering all of his eyes with his hands when he’s finished, feeling both thrilled at his discovery, and regret from watching the videos so quickly. “Instead of an audio blog, Bathin has a video blog! Bathin likes facts! He likes sharing them with others! I wonder if he’d like to listen to an episode of _🎶Day-vid’s Fact Cor_ \--” 

“-- _🎶David’s Fact Corner🎶_ ” David finishes, singing quietly under his breath. “Tragically discontinued, but sometimes still recorded, just in case the demand for new episodes rises…”

 _[It’s a shame no one has compiled them together!]_ IMOGEN chirps conspiratorially, a small “Fact Corner” folder icon popping up on the large screen.

“There has to be a way to send some episodes to him,” David wonders out loud. “If I try fiddling with the tubes like I did for the planet design briefs, maybe…” He’s already browsed the “About” section of Bathin’s video blog three times over, along with the “Fan Mail” section, but clicking on that link made a white box pop on his screen that read _[ERROR! Unauthorized attempt at external communication detected. Security alerted.]_ , with IMOGEN echoing the statement in the background.

“I ought to record some kind of opening for him, shouldn’t I? I can’t just send him random facts out of the blue…I’m already the seventh David here; he might know multiple Davids on Galactonium! I don’t want him to get confused.” David clears his throat, waiting for the little blinking red “Recording” icon to pop up on IMOGEN’s screen.

“Um, h-hello Bathin, or Bathin’s assistant, or whoever ends up listening to this. My name is David--David 7, to be specific. I’m a-- _fan_ of yours from Stellar Firma. I even helped design a planet for you recently, for your precious gems! I, um, realize that it wasn’t the best planetary design. I was pretty new to the job, and my boss wasn’t very receptive to constructive criticism of his ideas--his name is Trexel Geistman, he said he had known you from school? But you were still pretty generous in your feedback on your planet, so...well, I just found your video blogs, and I have an audio blog myself, so I thought you might enjoy some of the episodes I’ve recorded! It...kind of pales in comparison to what you’ve recorded, and you might even know some of the facts, since you’re--well, I don’t know how old Trexel is, but I imagine you’re around the same age, and I’m pretty sure that’s older than I am. I’m only a few weeks old; I’m just a clone after all. I do have a question for you, if you end up listening to this: what’s your favorite thing about Galactonium? ...Well, I don’t know how I’m going to get this to you yet, but if I do, um, thank you for listening! And...for having nice abs too, bye!”

_[Bathin’s abs are yum!]_

“Yes, they are...ugh, did I talk about myself too much?” David wrinkles his nose. “I mean, he doesn’t know me, so I suppose I ought to, but if it’s fan mail, wouldn’t he want to hear people talking about himself? No, that feels like too much of a Trexel thing…” David shrugs off the thought, dragging the intro into the file with the other episodes of _🎶David’s Fact Corner🎶_.

He isn’t sure how to get the files off IMOGEN at first, until he remembers that he had saved a brief canister in one of his drawers, along with one of the data-holding devices Trexel had been flaunting--and promptly forgot--in the office one afternoon. He plugs it into one of IMOGEN’s data ports, who immediately comments _[Yikes!]_ and wipes the device clean. David transfers his _Fact Corner_ data over, and deposits the device into the brief canister, along with a few crumpled up balls of paper, and a glittery, slightly-lopsided address label written out to _BATHIN - GREAT DUKE OF GALACTONIUM_. The canister is light, the quiet rattling of its contents muffled by the wads of paper inside. It fits into the tubes, but these sales tubes only seem to deposit briefs, not suck them out the way the design tubes did. That leaves David with an idea--a bit of a desperate one, but an idea regardless.

*

“Trexel, before we talk about today’s client--I have a favor to ask.”

“A _favor_? From _David_? A _Davor_ , one might say?” 

_[One shouldn’t say it again!]_

“Now, David, you usually don’t like to put off work,” Trexel narrows his eyes. “Though I am intrigued by your usurpation of my tactics--not that I like to put off work, I am very pleased with the job that the Board has given me!” He adds, casting a glance at the wall. “But I will indulge you in asking what favor you would like to ask of me.”

“So, Trexel. In theory, if someone were to send something to a planet outside of Stellar Firma, how would they do that? Would they just...throw something out of an airlock?”

“David. Are you trying to get me to stick part of my body out of an airlock for you? Because--”

“Well, yes, just your hand, really, and then you could pull it back--”

“Because that sounds like a plot to murder me, David. Have you thought about murdering me, David?”

“Mm.”

“It’s either a murder plot, or if I do this favor for you, you will have to be in my debt, David.”

“I feel like I already am, considering I’m forced to work with you daily…” 

“Sorry, David, didn’t quite catch that. I thought I heard you say--”

“I said, how would I be able to pay back a debt to you?” David clears his throat. “I’m pretty sure clones can’t possess credits, Trexel. Or,” He swallows, watching Trexel raise his eyebrows in thought. “Be credits. I’m pretty sure clones can’t _be_ credits, either.”

_[Clone collateral is strictly prohibited for Citizen T. Geistman!]_

“Besides,” David adds. “If I killed you, I would definitely end up being recycled. I don’t want to be recycled.”

“But do you, David? Haven't you ever thought about being recycled, the blades piercing and shredding your tender flesh--actually, you're quite gooey, you might muck up the mechanisms and cause them to slow down. You might just end up _mangled_ and not properly recycled, have you thought about that?”

“Well, I have thought about being recycled in theory, not necessarily in that much detail…”

_[Additional therapy sessions: scheduled!]_

“Listen, Trexel, I know you can...read…” David ekes out the subject warily, pulling out the canister. “But as you can see, this is something that needs to be sent to Bathin. I know you know who Bathin is. I can see the jealousy on your face right now.

“If you help me by sending this to Bathin--even though I can’t repay you--it’ll feel one of two ways. One, it’ll feel like getting a hug on the inside, the way we talked about the other week!” David forces a smile as Trexel squirms in his seat at the suggestion. “Or,” David offers. “Maybe it’ll feel good, you know, really sticking it to Bathin by showing him that you can mail him things too, after he sent us that feedback form!”

“You do have a point there, David; spite is a _very_ good motivator! I’m surprised I keep forgetting that one. Now, I’ll just put that in the bag with the fish--” David winces, hoping the canister is sealed tight enough as he hears the wet sounds coming from Trexel’s satchel. “And we’re almost out of time. Excellent procrastinating, David! I am teaching you well. What was our client’s name again?”

*

The brief tube outside of David’s room issues its usual whooshing dispensary tone, but hours after Trexel has departed for the evening. He’s hesitant to exit his pod to retrieve it, though IMOGEN beeps steadily until he does. Beneath the tube stands a beat-up brief canister, dented in one portion, but still clearly addressed to:

David Seven  
c/o Stellar Firma Limited  
Suite ??

David feels the beat quicken in his chest; he had prodded Trexel about the piece of mail for Bathin the other day, until Trexel finally remembered that he “dropped it down the mail chute” and “everyone knows the mail chute is unreliable” as he “had never gotten any return letters or packages” from his parents when he wrote to them at school.

After struggling with the red “PRIORITY: INTERGALACTIC SHIPMENT” label for a moment, David finally pries the lid open. The canister is filled with a semi-opaque, smooth yet pebbly sheet. One of its little circles pops under David’s fingers when he squeezes it, making him jump. Wrapped inside the sheet is a thumb-sized device similar to the one David had originally sent to Bathin, along with a thick piece of paper folded around something flat, sealed with a round-ish, matte gold stamp--David has spent enough time online to recognize it as the official seal of Galactonium. He carefully untucks the corners of paper out from underneath the seal, pulling out what appears to be a lengthy brief inside.

 _David,_ The brief begins. _It is wonderful to hear from a fan, especially from one so far away! I don’t usually respond to fan mail, due to the volume I receive--so try not to brag about this online, okay? :)_ David turns his head, slowly smiling to himself as he realizes the symbols are meant to make up a little smiling face.

_I had recorded a response for you, but the drive you had sent me was a little antiquated, so I wasn’t sure if you had the proper equipment to listen to mine--in that case, I’m sending you this letter as well. I really appreciated listening to your little Fact Corner episodes--I did learn some new things! I had tried searching for your audio blog online, but I couldn’t find anything. You ought to publish them! I think you could build an audience pretty easily. I certainly would be happy to support you._

_Thank you for watching my travel videos! It started off as a publicity project of sorts, but I’ve really gotten to have fun in them over the past few years. I hope you look forward to my next release. But, in the meantime, you asked me what my favorite thing about Galactonium was. I wasn’t sure if you meant the galaxy, or the central planet, or the capital city--that’s the issue with naming too many things the same way, I suppose! I’ll go with what my favorite thing is in the city, where I live--as much as I travel, I really do love returning to my familiar bed in the palace after I’ve been away. I know Stellar Firma can be a bit, well, firm on their travel policies--but maybe you could travel out to Galactonium someday?_

_Warmest regards,_

_Bathin_

David traces the slanted curves of the “B” of Bathin’s name, smiling until his cheeks start to ache.

“Maybe I’ll visit someday, Bathin,” David sighs, crading the letter to his chest. “Maybe.”


End file.
